Hamilton-Wenham girls lacrosse team looks to reload

Friday

Mar 28, 2014 at 4:40 PMMar 28, 2014 at 4:40 PM

By Christopher Hurleychurley@wickedlocal.com

They had their breakthrough season one year ago. One of their best in a decade of existence. Easily.The Hamilton-Wenham girls lacrosse team went 15-5 last spring, losing to eventual Division 2 North champion Winchester. And their ready to rock for 2014.The Generals will have to cope with the loss of Emily Gaucher, the teamís leading scorer for two previous seasons. They also lost Morgan Kimball, the starting goalie for the past three seasons. It also lost some great senior scorers: Anna Rourke, Franny Ambrose, Julia Ferreira and Catherine Martin.This year, the team returns to the field with plenty of confidence.It all starts with the captains and veteran leaders, Marie Morency, Hannah Johnson and Catherine Ecker."They bring a lot of experience," said Hamilton-Wenham coach Amanda Chase, a former high school and collegiate standout lacrosse player. "Both Marie and Hannah have been playing on varsity since their freshmen season, and Catherine since her sophomore season."Where do the teamís strengths exist?That would be the defense, according to Chase."Our defense is full of experience due to the fact that we didn't graduate any defenders last season," Chase said. "These girls are comfortable playing and communicating with one another, which is going to be a huge help for our freshmen goalie."Naturally, after only about a week of workouts, the team has a lot of work to do. It is early in the pre-season. The good news is the team does not open the season until it travels to Pentucket Tuesday, April 8, at 3:45 p.m."We've only been practicing for a week," Chase said. "We have a lot to improve on. My main focus now that tryouts are over would be getting our newcomers comfortable with our team dynamic."The team has been trapped inside the gymnasium for the first week or so, but have still shown flashes of success."They came into tryouts well-conditioned," Chase said. "It's obvious they've been playing and working out during the winter."Numbers-wise, the team hasnít seen any great drops or increase. It had about 50 try out, which was comparable to last season.